Customer Reviews

Highlander(TM): Zealot (Highlander (Warner))

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

This is my favorite HL tie-in novel. The TV characters are true to form, the story is compelling, the flashback is intriguing, and the love scenes are hot!

I love the parallelism between the current story and the flashback. What's the difference between a true believer - a zealot, and a terrorist? Who decides? When does patriotism turn into something else? How do you balance the passion of belief with the pragmatism of politics? How do you balance your fervent passion about something against someone else's for the exact opposite thing?

Maral was an intriguing character. I liked her. I wanted to know more about her, and more about what happened to her later.

The flashback to Masada was written so well...it was one of the most vibrant and alive parts of the book for me. I could *see* it in my mind. And the WW2 flashback was very moving. The rabbi and the tunnel linger in my mind.

This is one of the HL books that I had to read more than once, I enjoyed it so much.

This story has a great plot, and plenty of action so that those of us who are die-hard "Highlander" fans won't get too bored. I loved this book, and have read it at least ten times, if not more. These tv-tie-in novels are difficult to write, and the writer must have a firm grasp on the subject material. I say that Donna Lettow has that great quality. This book is not a slow starting one. The opening scenes of the mass murder at the temple tell you that this book will have a lot of violence and that if that opening scene makes you squeamish, then you'd best not read it. This book is a great, thought-provoking novel. I suggest it to anyone who loves the "Highlander" show, and anyone who just likes a good action novel.

This is a tie-in novel to the HIGHLANDER tv series but unlike most tie-in novels a reader does not have to be an avid fan to enjoy the novel. Anyone with just a casual familiarity with the general HIGHLANDER premise would be able to enjoy it.

The story centers around the Israeli/Palestinean conflict with flashbacks to Masada and the Warsaw Ghetto and introduces two 'new' immortals - Avram Mordecai, a young Hebrew scholar who died at Masada during the Roman occupation, and Marcus Constantine, the Roman general who found Avram and became his teacher. In the present day MacLeod, Avram, and Constantine all meet again in Paris. MacLeod has become infatuated with a Palestinean delegate to the peace talks, a relationship that causes conflict with his old friend Avram. MacLeod is forced to choose sides once again between the oppressed and the oppressors, it is just in this case it is hard to tell just who is who.

HIGHLANDER fans will also enjoy spending time at Duncan's barge and appearances by Methos.

TV Tie-in novels are difficult books to write--the author must walk a fine line between writing a true novel (in which a character must change despite or due to the course of events) and satisfying the wants and desires of a licensor and a television audience (the former of whom demands that all characters must be placed back in the box, unchanged, at the end of the story and the latter, who demand more from a novel than from an hour of television).

What to do? Find a subject that is overwhelming in its scope and use the well-known characters to provide a window through which that subject may be better understood.

Donna Lettow does an excellent job in providing an accessible and balanced portrait of the situation in the Middle East, how one man's terrorist is another's zealot, how hatred can obscure sense and how love can engender compassion and, if not understanding, then acceptance.

She manages to provide a range of information in a palatable fashion--neither bookish, nor cursory--and conveys a sense of the history of that troubled region that both educates and enthralls the reader.

The flaw in this is that the main television character, Duncan, seems pallid in comparison with the energetic and vibrant supporting characters. There is, as required in "Highlander," enough immortal swordplay to satisfy one who fancies that aspect of the show and it's true that the fates of all of the main characters are pretty much telegraphed from the opening chapters of the book, but the real life drama of the violent conflict between the Israelis and Palestinians over a homeland beloved and claimed by either over-rides the series aspects of the novel.

If such entertainment is to have a purpose, let it educate and aid in understanding of common, human problems. Through the use of the immortal characters in "Highlander," Donna Lettow has done just that.

This book was simply awful. I suggest you skip it. This entire series of Highlander-inspired novels has been a disappointment. Hack writing (this novel being only slighter better than Captive Soul) at its...best? The best of the worst? Well, it would be a real competition between these Highlander novels as to which is the worst; but, collectively, they are...how shall I put it? Supremely awful? Yes, that will do.

Donna Lettow's "Zealot" is one of the series of Highlander novels I refer to as "back story." That is to say, there is some additional insight to character and behavior from various episodes of the series delivered via the novel's pages. "Zealot" sees Duncan MacLeod flashing back to World War II Germany as well as active in modern-day Israel. Lettow's career as a staff writer for the television series serves her well in composing this entertaining read about Duncan's tribulations with other immortals as he assists a friend in need.

...actually living to witness such events as the fall of Masada. This is a fascinating tale of an Immortal who has done just that. Avram is one of the Zealots! His Jewish faith motivating him to aid his people during Nazi Germany, where he crosses paths with our hero Duncan McLeod. The two of them fight side by side during the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising.

Now, imagine this man who has seen his people persecuted for some 1900 + years and try and imagine what he thinks about the turmoil between Israel and Palestine during the late 90's.

This is a very touchy subject and the author does a wonderful job of telling the story from the point of view of all sides involved. Duncan can relate to his friend because he lived through his people's persecution at the hands of the English. But has his dear friend gone too far? And, if so, what must Duncan do about it?

We also get to know another Immortal in this story - Marcus Constantine. Marcus was Avram's teacher, but Marcus wasn't a Zealot. He was on the other side of the wall at Masada.

I couldn't put the book down. This is an exceptional story and the author did a great job in telling it!

So far, "Zealot" has been the best piece in the 'Highlander' tie-in series. Perhaps this goes to show you the value of having a writer who's experienced with her subject take up the task, eh? ;) Bravo, Donna!

This Highlander novel is perhaps a little more complicated, with multiple immortals. A museum caretaker, Methos, MacLeod, and an exhibition of Immortal gear. MacLeod had a sword for him, from one of the K-guys he dealt with in the past.

Both MacLeod and the museum guy, Constantine had encountered a Hebrew immortal named Mordecai in the past, and now he was back in the present.

Ms. Lettow manages to submerge the protagonist, Duncan MacLeod, in a once-over-lightly polemic on terrorism and the Middle East. In the process, any resemblance to the mythos of "The Highlander", and the epic fantasy, is irretrievably lost. She seems uncertain about the established character and persona of MacLeod and gives the reader the odd sense she doesn't even like the hero of the novel very much. This creates a strange feeling of disinterest in the reader for the events taking place. Although the author was a junior member of the series' writing team, she seems unable, on her own, to bring the flavor and character of the Immortal Highlander to life. We end up with a flat and unsatisfying historical propaganda piece that is "Highlander" in name only.